illicit | five hargreeves - EDITING

thirty two

chapter thirty two: brother

Anthony had never actually been in a real mental hospital before, but he already knew straight away that he didn't like it. As soon as he had walked through the double glass doors, he wanted nothing more to just run back out and go home. It reminded him far too much of the Commission in a terrible way. The way it was too quiet but not calm, people only spoke in hushed voices, but not a single thing that they were saying was peaceful. There was a sinister vibe to the whole place, and it freaked him out.

The painted bright white walls and the long empty hallways were enough to make him feel uneasy just at the sight of them, and the whole building just felt overall empty and hopeless. If he had been there only a month ago, he was sure he would've broken down into tears and started hyperventilating, letting himself dissociate until he didn't even know his own name anymore.

He supposed the closest he had ever gotten to a place like this was at the Commission, because at times he really did feel as if he was in some sort of mental asylum. Anthony briefly thought about his therapist back at the place, wondering if any of the methods he had used on him would've been in practice in this place, and the thought wasn't all too unlikely.

Anthony hadn't actually really thought about the Commission in awhile, and he had almost forgotten just how cruel they had really been to him. He tried not to think about it, because if he did it would just send him spiraling, and that was definitely not something he needed to deal with right now.

Anthony had worried a lot about whether or not they would eventually find him, and the actual idea of that wasn't one too far fetched at all. He had been in the 1960s for almost two months now, and the fact that they hadn't come to kill him yet was strange but also suspicious. Anthony was sure that the Handler knew exactly where he was, and was probably watching him, because she had found him before so it wouldn't be entirely hard for her to find him again. Now it was only a matter of where and when she was going to make an appearance to him.

Anthony had thought about the idea that she might just be waiting until Number Five would show up, because this woman knew better than anyone just how to hurt Anthony, and he was sure if she ever really wanted to hurt him she would use his husband against him the same way she had before. The same thing goes for Five, if she truly wanted to hurt him she all she would have to do is simply do something to either Anthony or his family. Perhaps that was the only way to truly hurt Five, because he didn't care much about anything else other than making sure that they were okay.

The painful thought also crossed his mind that maybe the Handler had already found Five, and maybe she had even killed him. It had been two months and there was still no sign of the boy, so maybe the thought wasn't all too far fetched, but Anthony couldn't think about that scenario for long without giving himself a panic attack.

The thought of Diego being in 1963 was something he was going to hold onto for as long as he needed to, because it had been the first thing he had heard in months about any of the Hargreeves, so if Diego was there, there was a chance that the others were somewhere around too and he just had to find them.

Anthony walked up to the front desk and the older woman behind it him gave him a look "If you're here to self admit we don't allow minors without parental consent" she informed him. He glanced down at her over the desk, reading her name tag 'Barbara'

"I'm here to see Diego Hargreeves" Anthony told her, his voice sounding a lot shakier than he had anticipated it to.

Barbara raised an eyebrow "To see one of our patients you need to have a familial relation to him"